RURAL NEW-YORKER 
'I'he Farmerette is Helping 
The liibor quostion is settling down, 
and farmers are either giving up part of 
the work they did in former years, or 
else taking any sort of labor they can get. 
"^Fwo years ago most farmers ridiculed the 
thought that women or girls could he of 
any real value, it has now been found, 
however, for lighter work, such as i)ick- 
ing. hoeing or weeding, sensible women 
are very useful. They cannot he e.xpectt'd 
to do heavy farm work, but they really 
do the lighter work in many cases better 
than the men, and by making a new ad¬ 
justment of labor a farmer can take care 
of the plowing nad cultivating and turn 
over the lighter work to those farmerettes. 
Many farmer’s are beginning to take a 
philosophical vic’w of the situation, and 
looking at the matter as best they can. 
The farmerettes are beginning to dress 
for their work. A few years ago such a 
costume would have raised a storm, hut 
it is now coming to he considered as a 
regular part of the joh. Our old friend, 
F. Q. AN'hite of Westchester (’o.. New 
York, is one of those philosophical farmers 
very fortunate in the fact th.at he has a 
coujde of smart daughtei’S. and this is 
.1 IV (louniji Varmereitc 
wliat he has to say iilrout the labor situa¬ 
tion : 
Hie ar Deiiartment lias so bungled 
the selective draft that instead of everv- 
one being drafted to work where he is 
best fitted, now everyone phvsically fit is 
drafted to the front line, from the farm, 
railroad and mine. Still, why should I 
worry about the crops Avhen my girls get 
home from (’ornell? i. (j. w. 
Caring for War Orphans 
Our Community Club is comsideriiig the 
sujqiort of a Helgiaii baby for one yeai‘. 
Can you give me the address of anyone 
who can give me any information in re¬ 
gard to the matter? I would like’to know 
how much it would cost for one year. 
Also if the money would be payable by 
the month or year. Jtits. K. (;. ir. 
New Jersey. 
'i'he “Children of the Frontier’’ are in 
urgent need of such help as you olTer. 
^Yrite to the “Coinite Franco-Americain 
Pour la Protection des Fnfauts de la 
Frouti^*re,” fS AVest oTth St., New York. 
This committee is caring for homeless 
children from towns behind the battle 
front. These children, clotlu'd in rags, 
starved and snlVering from fright, di.sease, 
wounds, and nervous shock, have been 
living in cellars, exposed to constant 
bombardment. Immediate care is needed, 
to heal these broken little lives, fi'he 
above committee has restored 700 chil¬ 
dren to the care of relatives, and is now 
caring for about l.bOO, but thousands of 
children are' still exposed to terribh' dau¬ 
bers, behind the front line trenches. This 
Comit6 Franco-Americain has 27 <-olonies 
for the care of such children, mostly lo¬ 
cated in old chateaux in the south of 
France, and seven receiving depots in 
Paris. The cost of supporting a child in 
such a colony is $(i a month; clothing 
costs $25 a year. All administrative ex¬ 
penses are paid from a special fund, and 
the rent of the chateaux is given the so¬ 
ciety, so that all money contributed goes 
direct for the support of the children. 
'I'he society will give you the history of 
s()me of these children; there are hun¬ 
dreds in noe'd of American godparents to 
“adopt” them at $6 .a month, and this 
.«eems just the opportunity you desire. 
Another committee that will have espe¬ 
cial interest to rural people is the Amer¬ 
ican Committee for Devastated France, 
Inc., which, in addition to caring for des¬ 
titute families and individuahs, is restock¬ 
ing farms, setting orchards, cultivating 
fields, and supplying stock and hatching 
eggs ; its national headquarters are' at 10 
Fast .‘>!)th St., New Y'ork. British farm¬ 
ers have contributed largely, both in 
money and material, for rehabilitating 
the farms of France, and we ai-e sure 
American farmers will be' eager to assist 
in this work. 
The Hygiene of the Normal Shoe 
■A recent issue of “College and State,” 
jniblished by the North Dakota Agricul¬ 
tural College, discussing the anatomy of 
the normal foot, states that 
‘■'riie bones of the foot are' so arranged 
as to form an arch on the inner border, 
the purpose of which is to save the body 
from jar, and this arch is sui)ported by 
ligaments which are non-elastic and b.y 
muscles Avhich are elastic according to 
their strength or tone. The' bony arch 
alone cannot support the body weight, 
neither can the ligaments alone support 
the arch. 'The tone' of any muscle is in¬ 
creased by exercise and work, and de¬ 
creased by inactivity and support. 
“To determine a normal foot, draw an 
outline of the naked foot on a sheet of 
paper, being careful that the body weight 
is equally distributed on both feet. The 
pattern should show a greater diameter 
at the base of the large toe, the heel nar- 
Outline o/ Pointed f^hoe and Xormal Foot 
811 
by a narrower Strip on the outer border 
of the foot. If this strip is wide through 
the_ center, the arch is low and this may 
indicate a falle'n arch. However, there 
are normal low and normal high arches, 
and a low arch does not necessarily indi¬ 
cate a fallen arch, unless there is pain, 
and this latter condition would be due to 
overstrained muscles and ligaments. 
“Squeezing the' toes into a pointed shoe 
causes a partial dislocation of the large 
toe and the result is a bunion, or inflam¬ 
mation of that joint. Corns will also ap¬ 
pear on and between the toes. "This is 
all uncomfortable to .say the least, but the 
greater harm is done’ to the muscles by 
abducting the foot, thus keeping the mus¬ 
cles in a continued stretched condition. 
(Abduction, or toeing out means a weak 
foot; and adduction, or toeing in toward 
the median line, means a strong foot.) 
These stre'tched muscles soon lose their 
tone; in other words, their power to recoil 
or contract, and the ultimate result is a 
weak arch. The .second factor to be con¬ 
sidered is the undue support to the arch 
of the foot be'cause of the high heel and 
the arch of the shoe. This support takes 
the work away from the muscles and 
they in time become weakened because of 
their continued inactivity. The two abovd 
named conditions may cause weak and 
fallen arches. 
“Force a normal foot into an abnormal 
shoe and what is the result? This is 
practically putting the foot into a cast, 
impairing circulation, destroying the nor¬ 
mal function of the muscles, and not only 
weakening the foot, but laying a founda¬ 
tion for ge'neral ill health. A normal and 
healthy foot is conducive toward raising 
general body efficiency. An abnormal de¬ 
formed foot put in au abnormal shoe may 
not mean discomfort to the wearer under 
ordinary conditions, but any added strain 
brought on by changing suddenly to gym- 
na.sium shoes, low heels, or walking, stand¬ 
ing, climbing, dancing, etc., will soon 
(Continued on page 824) 
the arch, for the weight of the body 
would cause the .small bones in the arcii 
to separate', thereby stretcbing the liga¬ 
ments and causing the arch to fall. There¬ 
fore, the strength of the arch depends 
upon the strength of the muscles, or mus¬ 
cular tone, and not upon the height of 
row, !ind the' toes should form a rounded 
contour and not a narrow point. 'The 
height of the arch can be determined by 
the imprint of a wet foot on the floor. 
To take this imprint correctly, weight 
should again be on both feet. 'The im¬ 
print should show each toe separately, and 
the ball of the foot and the heel joined 
Easily adjusted 
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WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY 
INCORPORATED 
195 Broadway, New York, N. Y. 
11th and York Sts., Phila., Pa. 
410 South Clinton St., Syracuse, N. Y. 
I WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, Inc. 
I Please send me Milking Machine Booklet No. R.N.Y. 32 
I Name__ 
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County 
State. 
